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Online Political Participation in China: Local Government and Differentiated Response

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2019

Yongshun Cai  and
Titi Zhou
Yongshun Cai*
Affiliation:
Division of Social Science, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Titi Zhou
Affiliation:
Department of Asian and Policy Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong. Email: [email protected].
*
Email: [email protected] (corresponding author).
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Abstract

Chinese citizens commonly take to the internet to voice complaints concerning their daily lives. The political hierarchy in China dictates that local governments are primarily responsible for addressing such grievances. This study investigates how local governments deal with online complaints and finds that they respond in a variety of ways and that their choice of a particular form of response is shaped by the pressure generated by the complaint and the cost of resolving it. This study contributes to the understanding of government responsiveness in China by directly assessing the quality of governmental responses and by measuring the pressure and costs faced by the government when dealing with online complaints. It also explains how the Chinese government, without having to rely on censorship, shields regime legitimacy from media exposure.

摘要

互联网已成为中国民众表达利益诉求的常用途径。中国的政治体制决定了网络诉求主要由地方政府负责解决。本文旨在分析地方政府如何回应民众的网络诉求。我们的研究发现, 中国地方政府有多种方式回应民众的网络诉求，其对于某一诉求的回应取决于该诉求所产生的压力和解决该诉求所需的成本。与现有研究不同的是，本文度量了政府回应诉求的质量并具体分析了政府面临的回应压力和成本，同时也揭示了中国政府在不依赖舆论审查的情况下如何维护政权的合法性。

Keywords

online complaintsgovernmentdifferentiated responseChina网络诉求政府差异性回应中国
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 238 , June 2019 , pp. 331 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London 2019 

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